Whither the impeachment movement?

Many in the impeachment movement are suffering from burnout. It's been a long haul these past 6 ½ years, and we're all tired, impoverished by Bushonomics, discouraged by the endless war and rumors of war. Yet we can’t stop fighting for truth and justice; the stakes are too high. The very future of life on the planet hangs in the balance.

We have to take stock of the current situation and decide on the best strategy. How should the impeachment movement allocate energy at this point? We need a strategy that’s focused, peaceful and legal, so as not to provoke repression, and potentially effective.

Here's how I see things right now. The country is still in limbo, hasn’t yet succumbed to fascism, thanks to our efforts and the efforts of many like-minded people around the US. The power struggle between the Bush/Cheney dictatorship and the rule of We the People under the US Constitution continues, and the outcome is far from certain.

The Bush/Cheney gang of criminals have apparently made several attempts recently to mount a false flag operation, or attack Iran, or both. They are looking for an excuse to suspend the Constitution and establish martial law. Their efforts have failed, because alert, loyal, patriotic Americans have pulled the plug.

We know there's a struggle within the American military over whether to attack Iran. The story goes that the group which opposes reportedly shot down a master satellite over Peru last week, a satellite which was to coordinate a nuclear attack on Iran. The attack was thwarted. The satellite impacted in the Andes and was reported as a meteorite, but the crater is far too large, and the people in the area appear to have radiation poisoning. (I've been told that the source of this story, Sorcha Faal, is a disinformation agent who writes in Pravda to confuse American bloggers, but I don't see why Bush/Cheney would want such a story put out.)

In any case, there's plenty of opposition to an attack on Iran, to a false flag operation, to the imposition of fascism. The opposition is at all levels of American society, but especially among people knowledgeable about military matters. No matter how many generals Bush/Cheney fire, the sane and savvy opponents to the B/C nutty, self-destructive policies keep interfering with their evil plots.

On the other hand, Congress is crawling on its belly to Bush/Cheney, for reasons we can only guess at. It's not about pleasing the voters, that's for sure, since their cowardice is obviously having the opposite effect. Whatever hold B/C have over Pelosi et al, it's more powerful than public opinion.

So what should the impeachment movement do? We need an impeaching Congress, and we have the opposite.

It's been clear to me for months that our attention needs to focus on the 2008 Congressional elections. Most of Congress needs to be replaced, starting with Pelosi. Cindy Sheehan is challenging her and intends to win. I'm challenging Mike Thompson in CA District 1, and encouraging Carol Brouillet to take on Anna Eshoo again. We need a new broom coalition for a clean sweep of Congress.

The acid test is whether the Congressperson has agreed to cosponsor H Res 333, introduced by Kucinich, which seeks to impeach Cheney because he lied us into Iraq, and is threatening Iran with no provocation. The cosponsors are listed below, with dates they signed on. They deserve medals of honor for their bravery and willingness to tell the truth.

These 20 Representatives should definitely be re-elected, along with Kucinich, if he doesn’t become president. All other incumbents should be seriously challenged by the impeachment movement.

This is well worth doing. Cindy Sheehan points out that the new Congress convenes two weeks before Bush/Cheney leave office, and a determined group could impeach during that time. Also, Bush and Cheney can be impeached after they leave office, stripped of their benefits, and made to face criminal charges.

I believe the job now of the impeachment movement is to keep the focus on impeachment, and make it the main issue of the 2008 Congressional campaign. This can be done by finding good, viable candidates, of any party, who will challenge incumbents in both the primary and the general elections on the issue of impeachment.

As the current Congress sees that we are serious, they will get more serious about impeachment, in an effort to save their seats. The whole climate of the country will change if we can mount and coordinate a strong challenge to incumbents who are keeping impeachment off the table.

If We the People control the House of Representatives, we can block war funding no matter who is president, and no matter what the Senate makeup is. The House has the power of the purse.

If we control the House, we can block any law that weakens environmental protection, weakens regulation of food and drugs, any law which diminishes funding for education and health and public welfare. We may not be able to get our agenda done, but at least we can prevent further harm. We can start to redirect federal money to domestic priorities, and cut the military budget.

Winning the House for We the People is difficult, but not impossible. It means bypassing the two major parties, which many people want to do. Progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans can challenge incumbents in the primaries, with Greens, other third party members, and independents following up in November. All of us can form a new broom coalition that transcends party lines, with the goal of sweeping Congress of corporate and Bush/Cheney influences and restoring it to its true function, upholding the Constitution and serving We the People.

We don’t need a majority. All we need is a bloc of votes in the House big enough to prevent either Democrats or Republicans from getting a majority. Fifty seats would be plenty. We would function as a caucus, across party lines.

There are many challenges in the months ahead: how to find each other, how to cooperate so well that we agree on suitable candidates, how to raise money without going to corporations, how to spread the word outside the mainstream media. We’ve had lots of practice over the past few years. Now is the time to use everything we have learned, and take our country back.

We have to put many differences aside and agree on a few main goals- restore the Constitution, withdraw from foreign imperialistic adventures, cooperate with other nations to slow and stop global warming- the priorities are obvious to all of us. It’s a matter of planetary survival. We have to scuttle the New World Order, which has the US acting as boss, and replace it with a council of nations acting together to solve planetary problems.

Candidates for Congress are stepping up to the plate all over the country. We need a national coordinating committee- perhaps the groups that organize the massive peace marches could take this on.

Meanwhile, there are many things we can do individually and with our local groups. Again, our job is to keep the focus on impeachment

The following suggestions come from a recent meeting of Impeach Bush Cheney.

1) Continue blogging, writing and researching relevant articles online, and watching the media for disinformation, or neglect of our movement.

2) Make at least two phone calls a day to Congresspeople- pester John Conyers, especially. Thank our Congresspeople who have signed on to H Res 333.

3) Write letters to the editor.

4) Talk to everyone about the urgency of impeachment and the refusal of THIS Congress to do it, and the need to elect new faces, people who are not professional politicians and who will represent We the People, not corporate interests.

5) Talk about it with relatives, friends and neighbors, people at work.

6) Bring it up at formal groups you belong to- peace and ecology groups, labor groups, political parties. Ask the group to pass an impeachment resolution, add impeachment to their literature, focus on it.

7) Ask your local businesses to put impeachment signs in their windows.

8) Give out buttons and bumper stickers, and wear them yourself.

9) Hold a house party- screen the DVD High Crimes, which lays out the legal basis for impeachment, with well-documented network and independent footage (email paracove@mcn.org or go to www.paracove.com to order). It comes with a toolkit on how to organize for impeachment.

10) Prepare a talk on impeachment and ask to speak at events.

11) Table at a farmer's market, post office, or other venue.

12) Think about running for Congress yourself, or work with others to find and build a suitable candidate.

Carol S. Wolman, MD is a psychiatrist in Northern California. A lifelong peace activist, she is helping to distribute a Peace Plan for the Holy Land- email her for a copy.
As the Green candidate for Congress in California District 1 in '08, she (more...)